Willo Historic District · Phoenix
An Arched Opening Changed This Galley Kitchen
More room for conversation, better storage, and details that belong in a 1938 home.
Residential Kitchen $30,000–$60,000Historical award category, not current remodeling pricing.
Dinner preparations had a way of taking the hosts out of their own gathering.
The kitchen in this 1938 Willo home was narrow, dark, and separated from the rooms where guests spent time. A small doorway led to the dining room, while a solid wall kept the living room out of view. In a kitchen of about 114 square feet, even a stool could get in the way.
The homeowners wanted to cook and entertain more comfortably without losing the vintage character they valued. This Phoenix historic kitchen remodel kept the galley arrangement but changed how it connected to the rest of the home. An arched pass-through and a wider dining-room opening became the starting points for a lighter, more useful kitchen.
A place for conversation
Opening the kitchen to the living room
The original corner beside the range held a small table and stool. It offered little useful seating: a guest sitting there occupied the same limited space the cooks needed, close to the stove and the narrow doorway.
A new 42-inch-wide arched pass-through gave guests a place to sit on the living-room side while talking with the hosts in the kitchen. Its curved shape echoes the home’s existing arches, making the opening part of the architectural language already there. Undercounter wine storage sits close to the new serving counter.
The change connects the rooms while keeping a defined kitchen work area. Guests can join the conversation without standing in front of a cabinet or interrupting dinner preparations.
The dining connection
Making the doorway easier to move through
Carrying a dish into the dining room had meant negotiating a doorway so narrow that the homeowners bumped their elbows and hands against the frame. The opening also made the kitchen feel cut off from the space beyond.
The remodel widened that passage and brought the adjoining side walls down to low-wall height. The remaining walls define the rooms without closing them off. Matching display cabinets in the dining-room corners extend the cabinetry beyond the galley, and a shared soft-gray wall color brings the spaces together.
Cooking in a compact footprint
Planning the range wall around everyday use
The homeowners enjoy cooking, so the appliance plan needed to work as carefully as the new openings. A substantial gas range became the center of the cooking wall. A new gas line and ventilation hood supported that choice, replacing the earlier arrangement with its microwave above the stove.
Linen-painted Shaker cabinets reach the ceiling, capturing storage space above the former upper cabinets. Their simple door profile gives the textured stone backsplash room to stand out. White quartz counters replace the dark surfaces that had made the small kitchen feel more enclosed.
The sink wall
Lighter surfaces and a vintage point of view
Across the galley, the sink wall received the same taller cabinetry and light quartz counter. The stacked-stone backsplash combines white, gray, and taupe, giving the room texture without returning to the heavy dark finish of the original wall.
A wall-mounted faucet with white porcelain handles and polished-nickel cabinet knobs and pulls carry the vintage references into the details. Glass-front doors offer display space, with lighting inside the cabinets to highlight the homeowners’ stemware.
Lighting and familiar details
Keeping what already belonged
The existing semi-flush ceiling light fixtures stayed. New dimmable LED tape lighting adds illumination under the wall cabinets and inside the glass-front cabinets, giving the kitchen task and accent lighting alongside its familiar fixtures.
Retaining those lights mattered to the overall character of the room. Paired with the vintage-style hardware and faucet, they help the updated cabinetry and appliances sit comfortably within the older home.
Craftsmanship at the transitions
Matching the floor, trim, and wall texture
Opening a doorway leaves work at the edges. Where the appliances and dining-room passage changed, the wood floor needed new material worked into the existing boards. The installer toothed in the replacement flooring so the repair followed the floor’s pattern rather than forming an obvious patch.
Baseboards, quarter round, and crown molding also needed to match the historic details elsewhere in the home. The project manager sourced and installed compatible profiles, while the new drywall texture required repeated trials to blend with the surrounding walls. Those transitions were essential to making the remodel feel connected to the original rooms.
Conditions behind the cabinets
Updating more than the visible finishes
Demolition exposed an old fuse panel concealed behind the pantry cabinet. The project replaced it with a 100-amp breaker panel, relocated outlets affected by the new low walls, and added a GFCI circuit for kitchen outlets.
Removing the sink also revealed problems with the galvanized plumbing lines. Those lines were replaced with copper. Along with the new gas line and ventilation, this work addressed the services the redesigned kitchen depended on.
Seeing the changes before construction
Plans and an illustration made the openings easier to understand
Computer-aided layouts helped the homeowners evaluate the cabinet and appliance arrangement in the small footprint. Perspective illustrations showed how the new pass-through would relate to the existing arch and the living-room seating.
The floor plans below show the original and revised kitchen arrangements. The expandable perspective is a design illustration, separate from the completed-project photographs.
View the computer design illustration
The completed kitchen
A small kitchen with a better connection to the home
The galley remains a defined place to cook, with more useful storage and better lighting. What changed most is the homeowners’ ability to stay involved with their guests. The arch opens the conversation to the living room, and the wider dining passage makes serving easier.
This project received a 2018 NARI CotY award in the Residential Kitchen $30,000–$60,000 category. That historical award category is not a statement of current remodeling prices.
Planning a historic kitchen remodel in Phoenix?
In an older home, a better kitchen may begin with the connection to the next room. Openings, circulation, storage, and the treatment of existing floors and trim deserve attention alongside the new finishes.
Explore our kitchen remodeling services and historic home remodeling. Our design-build process brings design decisions and construction planning together. The Path to Remodeling Clarity™ can help you prepare for those early conversations.
Plan Your Kitchen with Homework Remodels
Tell us how you use your kitchen, where it gets in the way, and which details of your home you want to keep. We’ll begin with the possibilities within your space.